Columbus Zoo’s cockatoo named Avery loves to get her groove on, and the internet can’t get enough of it. The zoo recently shared a video of her hamming it up in front of the camera, and it’s making us all want to get up and get down!
Make sure your sound is on as you watch Avery bust a move because she’s got some pretty impressive dance skills! And we don’t think that cockatoos can smile, but it sure looks like she is, as she shakes her tail feathers!
Columbus Zoo shared in the video’s caption that Avery loves to dance all day, every day. We’d all love to watch her do it, too!
Related: Cockatoo Playing Fetch With New Puppy Is So Cute We Can’t Handle It
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Commenters Share Fun Reactions to Avery the Dancing Cockatoo
Viewers loved seeing Avery the cockatoo busting a move and had a lot to say about it. @SmilingSunshineSarah swooned, “Perfect outfit for the occasion! That headpiece, those feathers!!” @Sheri G agreed, “Now that’s a showgirl!” @Fabletics also had the same thought, ‘This is the REAL showgirl!”
@lisa kom trikru attached a picture of Taylor Swift dressed as a showgirl and said, “The bird has good taste!” While @Kinga added, “In her Showbird era…” @Wendell Albus made us all smile when he shared, “I’ve made it onto Zoo/Aquarium x Taylor tok this morning and would like the algorithm to know: never change.”
Commenter @Jinx said simply, “This is what the internet was made for.” @EmHarrell joked, “How many times did I watch this? Yes.” We can say the same thing!
Is Avery the cockatoo actually dancing? Yes! The Smithsonian Magazine explains, “So why can the bird get its groove on while other pets like cats, dogs, and hamsters just stare blankly? Patel believes that dancing is limited to animals that are ‘vocal learners,’ which can learn various sounds from their environment.”
The same article shared that there are four other traits that make humans and parrots able to break it down on the dancefloor. “That includes the capacity for nonverbal movement imitation, a tendency to form long-term social bonds, the ability to learn complex sequences of actions, and attentiveness to communicative movements.
In addition to humans and parrots, dolphins and elephants fit the bill, but researchers have not observed either of those species spontaneously dancing. Monkeys and apes also fail to move to the music.” If there’s one thing we all love, it’s watching animals get their groove on!
This story was originally reported by PetHelpful on Oct 29, 2025, where it first appeared in the Pet News section. Add PetHelpful as a Preferred Source by clicking here.